This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now newsletter at BART (the Bay Area Rapid Transit) system
The publicity around this recent attack on a BART passenger is another strike against BART. Another scare; another reason to not ride BART; another victim – actually two victims.
The first victim was the woman who suffered a horrific attack. The second, is now a violent felon. He has also suffered attacks, not that it excuses his violent behavior. But it might explain such an irrational act.
How many people exist on the margins of society and fall into criminal behavior and before or during that period become addicted to street drugs? Sleepless nights on the streets, surrounded by people like themselves, who have been tossed aside by society. Under that stress many people can feel disoriented.
Mental illness is an epidemic in this society and is fed by poverty, drug use, lack of housing – everything that pushes some people to the margins of society. Some manage to find their way out. But many don’t.
Locking people up is the usual approach. In California state prisons it costs more than $132,000 a year per inmate! This is after the cost of a trial.
The money is there and could be used to benefit the majority. But our tax dollars are taken from us and rarely used to benefit us. Sometimes they are used for criminal activity. The UN, and the World Court have found Israel guilty of genocide in their attacks on Gaza. The U.S. government has aided and abetted this criminal genocide. Since these attacks began 14 months ago, the U.S. has spent close to $18 billion of our tax dollars on this criminal operation.
